It is. I think you're misunderstanding me. I'm saying tons of people sign up for the military solely for the education benefits. If tax payer funded universities become a thing, less people would enlist in the military

This is very true. Joining the Army is a guaranteed living. They give you food, board, work, and an income. Most* of the men in my high school class who didn't either go to college or get caught up in drugs, wound up in the army.

This is the best tl;dr I could make, original reduced by 91%. (I'm a bot)

Empty recruiting tables and disinterested audiences are becoming more common for the SDF as Japan's demographic troubles and robust economy have created what some defense insiders call a "Silent crisis" for military recruiting.

Japan budgeted for 247,154 SDF personnel in the year to March 2018, but the military employed only 226,789.

About 90 percent of the public has a positive view of the SDF, surveys show, largely due to military disaster relief work, but that doesn't necessarily mean they want to serve, recruiters and experts said.